Of Chats and Ladybugs
by Chatthecat
Summary: Things are going downhill fast four weeks after that kiss on Valentine's Day. Also, HawkMoth is getting more aggressive in his hunt for the Miraculous to the point where he will probably have to go after Ladybug and Chat Noir himself. Things will be revealed, hearts will be shattered, and this story will take forever to update, so strap in and enjoy the sins.
1. Fire

The sun shone over Paris with an intense heat. It didn't help that the akuma villain of the week was a fire breathing human dragon hybrid.

"Grrr... Where are you, kitty cat?" Mari cursed to herself as she leaped and swung through the Paris landscape, dogging the magnificent display of flames streaking through the air, too close for comfort.

"YOU WILL NOT ESCAPE YOUR FIERY DOOM." The dragon-human yelled. He was locked onto Ladybug. This was the kill shot. He inhaled, and was promptly interrupted by a metal rod striking his face.

Chat Noir dodge rolled, then dove to catch his staff. Leaping back into the air with the help of it propelling him towards Ladybug. "Hey Bugaboo, miss me?" He said with a sly smirk as he whisked past her.

"You, mister, are a very bad and very late kitty." She said, swinging her yo-yo to land a satisfying smack on the dragon's face.

"Oh dear, will My Lady punish me~?" He quirked a brow and came in from the opposite side of the dragon's face to land a blow with his staff.

"Oh Chat, don't get ahead of yourself. You know I'm saving my self for the right guy." Mari said as she snatched the artifact holding in the akuma from the dragon man's belt and tossed it to Chat.

"Oh so you're saying I have a chance?" Chat asked playfully, also secretly hopeful. He extended his staff and used it like a cricket bat to smash the artifact into pieces.

"Not on your nine lives, kitty." She winked. Always a playful wink, never flirtatious, though, she felt odd after winking. She couldn't explain it.

After the akuma was taken care of, she and Chat approached each other. The man who was Akumatized awkwardly shuffled away, holding his pet bearded dragon close to his chest after it reappeared. Chat looked at Ladybug. His eyes stared into her ocean blue eyes.

"I do want to apologize for my absence. I was having a bad fur day, and I always need to look my best for My Ladybug." He waggled his eyebrows as he leaned in.

"You really aren't over that kiss, are you?" She suddenly said, giving him a playful accusing look.

"What?" He blinked, backing off a bit. It's been four weeks since that kiss. It's never been brought up since then. Sadly, he doesn't even remember it because he was struck with a hatred arrow. Ladybug was equally taken aback by mentioning it.

"I-It's not like I wanted to kiss you! I told you already that I had to break that curse on you." She stammered. "Besides, I... Already like someone else. Don't you have anyone else you like?"

Chat stared at her. His mind darted to Marinette, oddly her image filling Ladybug's place.

"I don't like anyone else." Chat said in an almost monotone voice.

They both beeped, signaling their transformation was about to happen. She was about to leave, but Chat grabbed her arm. She turned around to look at him.

"Don't leave. I promise I won't tell anyone. Please, Ladybug?" He looked at her with lost looking eyes. He let her arm go.

"Chat.. You know we shouldn't." She said quietly.

Chat exhaled. Looking away. "Okay. See you around then, my lady." He sounded defeated.

She regarded him for a moment. "Oh Chat.. Find some shade. I think the heat's messing with your head." Without thinking, she gave him a peck on the cheek. It was a totally innocent kiss, Mari would convince herself later. A pity kiss. She gave him a smile and leapt away, swinging out of sight.

"I don't like anyone. But I do love someone." Chat said to himself as she disappeared from view. He pulled out the paper heart he received, not signed. He always told himself it was his Ladybug who sent him this. Nevertheless, one day he'd get the courage to tell her. He was confident when he flirted, but when they would seriously talk about their relationship, he had no moxie. No swagger. Maybe someday he would.

HawkMoth roared at the window.

"You may have extinguished the flame this time, Ladybug, but you have yet to realize I'm a slow burner, and when I reach my highest temperature, you and your cat will be burned. He watched the window close. He was shrouded in darkness. There was a light behind him. The door opened to reveal a bright hallway. He walked towards it, transforming back into Gabriel Agreste, his costume dissipating towards his glowing broach. It was similar to his wife's before she disappeared. There was a call coming in from his son. He ignored it. He couldn't look at his son, because he reminded him of his wife. He had to keep his son out of his sight at all times if he can help it. He had to concentrate on getting his wife back.

Mari slid down the ladder into her room to be greeted by messages from Ayla.

[GIRL, you will not beLIEVE how close I got to the action this week with Ladybug and Chat.]

[I thought you were going to stay out of the action after the Pharaoh incident.]

[Yeah, girl, about that, you can't keep me from the action and you know it.]

[Anyway, I heard Chat talk, and you know how I told you he sounded familiar, so, I took the liberty of recording all of our friends voices and Chat's, and after many sleepless nights comparing voices, he sounds exactly like Adrien!1]

Mari stared at her phone, mentally comparing the voices, and denying all possible connections.

[You're hearing things, Ayla. Adrien is too suave to be that dorky cat.]

[But /girl/.]

[Shushy.]

[The truth is out there. I'll make you a believer. *x-files music plays*]

[Pffft. You're so weird.]

Mari put down her phone and looked towards the window, picturing her and Chat, unmasked, and it being Adrien. She shook that thought away.

Foolish fool. You will not fall in love with kitty boy. She thought to herself, and yet, there was a small, but loud voice crying out in the back of her head with ideas of her and Chat revealing their identities to each other. Her heart fluttered at the possibility it would be Adrien's face meeting hers after they transformed.

She took a cold shower.


	2. Air

Author's note: I apologize in advance.

While showering the next afternoon after a long day of school and having to put up with Chloè's BS, along with trying not to think thoughts about Adrien or Chat, distant screams ripped Marinette back into reality. She hopped out of the shower and grabbed her phone. Another Akuma was attacking. Two in one week? HawkMoth must have nothing better to do. Who is she kidding, he doesn't anything better to do. If he did, he wouldn't be hauled up somewhere sending minions to take out children. She obviously wasn't thinking when she called Tikki to transform while not wearing any clothes underneath, barely dry. She leapt up the stairs, onto the roof and swung into action.

Chat was already there, so now she was the late one. Though, he was oddly silent with his quips, other then shouting out warnings when she was about to get hit. It was a bit off putting, to be honest.

After the Akume was de-evilized, she stood on the rooftop of a tall building, looking around. Chat was already bounding away, about to leap off of the roof.

"Chat!" She called after him. "Where are you going?"

"Uh, away to transform?" He said, giving her an odd look as he hesitantly shuffled back towards her. "Does My Lady want to apologize for being late?" He added with a smug smirk.

"Oh Chat, I'm never late. You were just early." She said, ignoring the beeping sound coming from her earrings. The sun was beginning to set, setting the sky in a pink hue.

"My Lady, surely you didn't stick around to tease me." Chat said, looking down at her, his eyes scanning her.

"No, no. And don't call me Shirley!" She giggled. "I... Um.. I wanted to.. Apologize for yesterday. I know I said some mean things. It's not like I didn't like the kiss. I mean, it's plutonic, I assure you!"

"Are you going anywhere with this?" He looked a bit worried, impatient.

"Yes! Hold your tail. So. Erm. Listen. I was thinking that we could do it."

The boy's eyes widened as he blushed. "My Lady, we haven't even gone out on a date yet, and I don't have Netflix!"

Mari blinked, confused for a minute before realizing what she said, and realizing what he said. "Ack! No! I don't mean that! I mean, let each other see who we really are you dork!" She flailed at him.

"Oh! Really?" He put his paws together excitedly, his eyes so big and hopeful.

"Really." She winked at him. "Though, we can't let that change anything, understood?"

He nodded fiercely as their jewelry chimed it's last warning. Then, in mid-transformation, he remembered something and had the biggest pit in his stomach. He had to get out of there, but it was too late.

Earlier, before the attack, Adrien was showering in the locker room after fencing practice when he heard the ruckus outside.

"Gah! Plagg, time to go!" He said, running. "CLAWS OUT."

As Plagg was getting sucked into Adrien's ring, he called out, "What about your clothes?!"

Adrien didn't need to worry about his clothes because he would be back in the locker room by the time he transformed back. Nothing would make him forget that he had no clothes on and that he needed to be at the locker room by the last chime.

Flash forward back to the present, and that idiot ended up forgetting he was wearing no clothes. Well, at least he wasn't alone. He quickly covered himself up.

"GAH! My Lady, don't lo-Marinette?!" He stared at his naked classmate standing in front of him before quickly shielding his eyes, but not, of course, without having her bare body engraved into his mind.

"Adrien?" Her eyes widened. She looked at him and realized there was an absence of clothes.

She blushed furiously and looked away as he did. Wait, why was he shielding his eyes? She felt a cold breeze on her body, causing her to look down at himself. "GUAH!" She quickly ran behind the nearest chimney. Adrien quickly hid on the opposite side of the chimney.

"Why are you naked?!" Mari yelled to him.

"Me?! Why are you naked?" He retorted.

"You first!"

"Fresh out of the shower." He pouted.

"... Same." She said hesitantly.

"... So." He said.

"So..." She mimicked.

"We're going to have to wait for our Kwami to recharge, aren't we..." He said, rather than asked.

"Yep..."

"Not to make this more awkward, but is that other guy you're always talking about liking me?" Adrien said after a while, feeling awkward that he was feeling a breeze in places he shouldn't.

Mari froze. She was stuck between a rock and a chimney. She would say hard place, but she'd rather not think of the word hard after seeing Cha-she means Adrien's, junk.

"Princess?" She heard Adrien call out. Her heart skipped a beat. Knowing Adrien called her princess made her blush, but he was also Chat. But he was Adrien. But Chat. Ugh. This was going to hurt, she knew it.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm here!" She piped up as she shivered. It was getting cold out as it got darker.

"Are you going to answer my question?" He asked quietly.

She inhaled. She had to finally say it. She had to admit her feelings... To Chat Noir. "Yes." She finally said.

"Yes to my question, or yes to me asking if you were going to answer my question." She heard him ask.

"The first one, dummy!" She retorted.

He was quiet. She shivered again. "Hey, Mari?" His voice was directly over her head. She jumped and popped up, thankfully being able to hide her squishy bits from him. She came face to face with him. Her face flushed seeing his gorgeous face in the pale moonlight.

"I liked you too." He finally said.

"Pfft. That's a load of BS. You liked Ladybug." She said, feeling a bit hurt he would lie like that, though, for some reason, a small bit of her felt like he was being genuine. Maybe that was the cold wind breezing across her exposed nethers.

"Would you like to start this over tomorrow... With clothing?" He asked, looking into her eyes, pleading.

"Adrien... Now that we know who each other are, we can't date. I mean, we couldn't date even if we didn't know who each other was. It would take our concentration away from the mission. Love is a disadvantage."

He stared at her before finally saying, "Love makes us stronger."

"Adrien. Please. It hurts knowing I can never have the person I like. I don't need you making it worse."

She turned away. Tikki chimed in quietly. "I'm ready when you are." "Goodnight Adrien. Please forget this ever happened." She said quietly, some tears welling up in her eyes. "Spots on." She then leaped of the roof and out of sight.

Adrien stood there. "Spots on." He mumbled. After his suit covered his body, he slowly made his way home.

Gabriel Agreste sat at his desk in his office, down the hall from his lair. The moon illuminated his office through the large ceiling to floor window. He was holding a picture of himself and his wife. They were together in uniform. His wife, wearing red with black spots, he in black, with cat ears and a belt tail. He looked at that photo every night and promised himself he would get the Miraculous, but with each passing day he was getting more and more desperate. An alarm chimed in his computer, notifying him that Adrien arrived home. He clicked away the notification and went back to staring at the picture.


	3. Thunder

Mari groaned as Tikki tugged at her bangs. She was up late last night wracking her brain about her newfound discovery, and the extremely unpleasant way she found it out. She frowned how she never saw it, and always played off the fact her mind drifted off into seeing Chat as Adrien whenever she touched herself at night. She was an emotional wreck.

She swatted at the Kwami and hid her face under her pillow. "Tikki, please leave me alone. I don't have school today." She groaned

"I'm sorry Marinette, but you have a visitor..." Tikki chimed quietly.

Mari blinked and sat up, removing the pillow. She wish she hadn't. Chat was on her balcony, looking in at her with a sheepish smile. He offered a little wave. Mari groaned even more and rolled out of bed.

"Cha-I mean Adrien... What are you doing here? I thought I told you to forget about what happened yesterday." She said, waddling out out onto the balcony in her PJs.

Chat transformed back into Adrien. This time he was wearing clothes.

"I just wanted to talk about yesterday. You can't just tell me to forget something like this, Mari!" Adrien exclaimed.

"It doesn't change anything." Mari said.

"It changes everything!" Adrien said. "I know you have a crush on me. Not Chat me, but me, me."

Mari's eyes widened as her cheeks flushed. "What?! Who told you that? It's not true!"

"Blame Alya." He rolled his eyes with a little smirk.

"I'm so going to kill her later." She pouted.

"Mari, listen. I would like to take you on a date." He said.

"Oh, since I'm me and not Ladybug, you're somehow magically smooth again?" She quirked a brow.

"Well, to be honest, without the mask on you, it's easier because you're just Mari."

"Are you trying to date me or insult me?" Mari looked him up and down.

He flinched. "Forgive me My Lady. Honestly, you're the first girl I've asked out..."

Mari looked stunned. "R-Really?"

"Don't rub it in!" He said, adjusting his jacket subconsciously.

Mari giggled. "I think that's kinda cute."

"Will you join me tonight or are you going to keep laughing at me?" He pouted.

"Hmmmmmmm~ I think I'll do both." Mari grinned.

Adrien smiled like a dork. "Awesome! It's a date then." He said backing up towards the edge of the balcony. "I'll pick you up at seven."

"Seven." Mari confirmed as she watched Adrien fall backwards off the balcony, hearing him shout something after he fell out of view. She then saw him leaping away via rooftops, all suited up.

"Silly cat..." Mari sighed.

Hawkmoth scowled at his skylight, not sending any sadness or misery today. It was a good day, and Hawkmoth didn't like good days, unless he was the one having them, and he would only have a good day when he got his wife back. This could not wait any longer, he was going to have to get the Miraculous back himself.

Mari spent her day shopping for the perfect dress for the date after she chewed Alya's ear off for telling Adrien about her crush. Then, Alya chewed Mari's eat off by asking for all the juicy details. Mari provided a very abridged synopsis about how it all went down. She ended up choosing a red dress with some black streaks down the torso. She would have preferred black dots, but they didn't have any dresses with that design.

Mari arrived home and got ready for the night. Adrien arrived at seven precisely. He stared at her, gawking just a bit at her beauty before straightening up and trying to act cool.

"Were you waiting outside my door until seven?" She asked when she opened the door. Adrien was wearing a black suit and green tie. Mari tried to hide her inner swooning by teasing him.

"Maybe I just have purr-fect timing." He said with a smirk.

"Don't make me cancel this date."

"If I can't make puns, what's the point?!" He flailed.

"I thought you were taking me to dinner and not pun-town."

"I am, I am. I'm starving!" He said.

"Hello starving," a voice came from behind Mari. "I'm dad." Said Mari's dad as he appeared in the door way with Mari's mother.

"Ooh, don't mind us, we just want a picture of our little girl's first date!" Her mother said as she held up the camera.

"Mom, it's totally not my first date." Mari blushed.

"Yes it is, now stand next to the attractive boy." Mari's mother retorted, scooting Mari next to Adrien and snapping the picture quickly.

"I expect her home at nine-thirty!" The father said.

"Yes sir." Adrien said.

"Go have fun, you two." The mother exclaimed shutting the door as Adrien led Mari to the limo.

Mari swore she heard her parents muffled cheering.

They arrived at a very fancy restaurant and Adrien held open both Limo and restaurant door open for Marinette.

"Wow... It's so big." Mari said, looking around.

Adrien refrained from a "that's what she said" joke.

"Reservation for Agreste." Adrien said to the man at the podium, who in return nodded and led them up onto the upper level. It was an outside area that overlooked the city, the Eiffel Tower big and bright in the night. The moon large and pale.

"Oh Adrien... You really didn't have to go through all this trouble." She said as she viewed the scene. The white table cloth and the candle and the spotted rose. This dork was a romantic, and she loved it.

He pulled out her chair and pushed it in when she sat down. He sat down across from her and they waited for their food after ordering. Adrien had ordered them the "Lady and the Tramp special." Mari snorted at the cheesiness.

The spaghetti arrived. Adrien nudged the meatball towards her with his fork.

"Oh? You're not going to use your nose like a true gentleman?" Mari teased with a smirk.

Adrien pouted and nosed the meatball over with his nose causing Mari to giggle. He smiled as he sat back up, a bit of tomato aside sat on the tip of his nose.

Mari pointed to her own nose with a bit of a side smile. Adrien blinked and crossed his eyes to look at his nose. He quickly wiped it off and grinned like the dork he was.

They continued having a lovely dinner that ended with them transforming and swinging and leaping over to the top of the Eiffel Tower. They sat together in costume on the top of the building, laughing and looking over the brightly lit city in the purple skied night that was dotted with twinkling stars.

"I never thought I'd accept a date from Chat Noir." Mari said with a sigh. "And I never expected I would enjoy it." She rested her head on his shoulder.

Chat smiled down at her with admiration. You know that Disney prince soft stare at the love interest? Yeah, it was like that.

"Chat?"

"Yes Bugaboo?"

"Are you purring?

"..."

"Chat."

"Maybe."

"Pfft, silly kitty..." Mari sat up and looked at him. She leaned in a little bit, a kiss forming at the corner of her lips. Chat happily leaned in in returned, ready to feel her lips again.

They were interrupted by screams below. A flow of white mixed with black glowing Akuma were swarming through the buildings like a rushing flood. Before Chat and Ladybug could react, the Akuma disintegrated bits of the tower, causing it to crumple and screech as it fell to the ground. Ladybug tried to use her yo-yo, but it was blocked by the Akuma. The Eiffel Tower came down with a thundering crash, taking Chat and Ladybug with it. After the tower came down, the dust and the Akume flooded ground zero.

Over the the noise of sirens there were screams, one was prominent: the devastated, pained scream of Chat Noir.


	4. Dust

Chat scrambled through the rubble of the fallen tower shouting for his Ladybug to call back to him and let him know where she was and if she was alright.

"Chat Noir!" He heard a voice chime out to him. It was Tikki. She was hovering by some crushed metal beams. "Marinette is trapped under here."

"Back up." Chat said before powering up his Cataclysm.

The beam disintegrated and revealed something Chat was hoping he wouldn't have to see.

Marinette was dead, seemingly crushed by the beams. Chat fell to his knees as the dust from the wreckage fluttered through the air. The Akuma covered the sky and hid the big moon from the city. Chat let out a devastated pained scream as he held onto Mari's limp body.

HawkMoth came through the Akuma like they were wisps of smoke. He stood behind Chat Noir, looking down at the boy.

"You now understand why I do what I do. You now understand the constant pain that I feel." HawkMoth muttered, holding a dark Akuma in his hand, letting it flutter down to chat, landing on his chest, absorbing into his heart.

Chat was Akumatized.

"You did this." Chat said.

"No, Chat Noir. The Miraculous did this. Give me the Miraculous, and I can save your friend and end this tiresome battle between us." Hawk moth put his hand on the boy's shoulder. Chat's Miraculous chimed.

"The Miraculous didn't do this. YOU DID THIS." Chat activated his Cataclysm again and slashed at HawkMoth, who in turn dodged it, slightly surprised the boy wasn't under his control.

Chat glared at HawkMoth, the purple outline around his eyes pulsed.

"T-That's impossible! OBEY ME." HawkMoth yelled.

Chat flinched and cringed as he felt the voice pounding in his head.

"I WON'T OBEY SHIT." Chat screamed as he charged at HawkMoth, slashing and clawing. Purple and green sparks flew as they fought. Equally matched, similar fighting styles. HawkMoth wasn't expecting this boy to have such a strong will. Chat's Miraculous chimed again, distracting Chat for a moment, which cause him to not notice a fist shaped blob of Akuma to his right, which caused him to be knocked into some huge metal chunk of fallen tower. He laid limply on the ground.

HawkMoth glided over to the boy. "GIVE ME THE MIRACULOUS." He yelled at the limp body. The sounds of sirens blaring in the distance were becoming louder.

The Akuma bunched up around the boy and floated him upwards. HawkMoth grabbed the boy by the collar as the last chime rang out, causing Char to transform back into Adrien.

"Now, your Miraculous will be mine Chat Noi- Adrien?" HawkMoth turned pale as he held the limp unconscious Adrien by the collar.

"Son?..." HawkMoth shook the boy. "Adrien wake up... Wake up Adrien!" HawkMoth shook and shook, finally throwing the boy down.

"DAMN IT." He cried out. "DAMN YOU. Why did it have to be you? Out of all the people who had to inherit the Miraculous... I've lost too much." He choked on his tears.

He tugged the ring off of Adrien's finger and held out his hand as the Akuma dropped Ladybug's earrings into his palm. He put them together and squeezed his hands together. A glow illuminated through his fingers. He tossed the combined objects into the air where they hovered and spun, getting brighter and brighter before exploding in a sheer brilliance of colors. HawkMoth shielded his eyes and turned away from the light, his eyes resting on his son. He inhaled and turned back after the light dimmed down. His wife Stood in her outfit. The SwallowtailButterfly. Her outfit yellow with black dots and tiger stripes.

"Gabriel... What have you done..." His wife sounded disappointed as she looked over her kneeling husband.

"I've saved you, My Lady!" Gabriel said quickly to justify his destruction.

"I didn't need saving." She said softly. "This city needed saving."

"From what?" He asked angrily.

"From you." She said, causing Gabriel's stomach to grow cold.

"But you're back now, and we can go back to keeping Paris safe!" He clenched his fist in determination.

"Gabriel... You forgot how you lost me in the first place. Do you not remember having your heart tainted by the Akuma and myself dead on your lap? You've just created the next HawkMoth. You may go back to being a hero, but you will never get rid of HawkMoth. HawkMoth strives off of powerful emotions, as as long as there are emotions in the world, there will be HawkMoth. Please let the children carry on our legacy."

"I just want to be with you again." Gabriel said, tears streaming over his mask and down his face.

"You will be soon." His wife smile sadly. Just tell him you forgive him.

"What?" Gabriel was confused before he felt a sharp slash on his back.

Chat was standing behind him, back in his suit. The Akuma powering him, flowing through his veins. His green eyes pulsed purple. "Cataclysm..." He muttered.

First HawkMoth's suit disintegrated, revealing Gabriel to his son.

"D-Dad?!" Adrien's mind was sent reeling. He caught his dad as he fell.

"Adrien... Gnng.."

"Why dad?" Adrien's eyes flashed green.

"What we do for the people we love..." He started becoming limp in Adrien's grasp his limbs starting to disintegrate.

"Dad! No! Please don't leave me too..." Adrien gripped him tighter.

"I forgive... You." His last word was a breathy sigh. It was also his last breath. His father disappeared into a glowing white ash which was whisked away by the wind.

Now, keep in mind, only Gabriel could see his wife, so Chat was surprised when his mother appeared suddenly in front of him.

"Adrien. Your father made very bad decisions in his life, but you weren't one of them. You won't feel love again for a very long time, and I am so sorry your father did this to you. When I split, do not go searching for the Miraculous. It will not bring her back. It will only bring you more pain." She said, gesturing to ladybug.

"But she can come back, just as you have!" He exclaimed. "Just give me back the miraculous and I will fix it!"

His mother just shook her head. "You will never learn, just like your father. Your time to save the city is over. You've been tainted with the Akuma. I'm sorry, Adrien, but when I split Miraculous, they will find new owners to protect them."

"But mother! I love her. Please don't let me lose her..." His voice was strained.

Before his eyes his mother disappeared as well, the Miraculous splitting and flying off in different directions. The Akuma swallowed the destruction and Adrien put everything back like nothing had ever happened.

The Miraculous sped across Paris, eventually ending up flinging themselves onto a boy and a girl. The boy, screamed and flailed as the ring attached to him. The girl, who lived in a different part of the city had the same reaction.

The Kwami told them they were chosen to protect the city. Well, the ladybug Kwami told the girl that. The cat Kwami told the boy he was cursed, and the only way he could get back to normal was a kiss from another Kwami user. So, from that night on, Felix and Bridgette took to the rooftops of Paris as Ladybug and Chat Noir to defend the city from the evil HawkMoth who needed the miraculous to get his beloved Marinette back. And he would do anything to get her, and the Miraculous back.

The End.


End file.
